Reliable sources close to Intel said today that the so-called delay in its first desktop processor using Coppermine was a knee-jerk reaction to AMD's K7 Athlon. However, an Intel representative has denied that claim. According to the source, Intel released its .25 micron Pentium III/600 to soften the market for AMD's up-and-coming launch on August 10 next. The first Coppermine processor was also scheduled to run at a clock speed of 600MHz, but now Intel will, instead, introduce the first Coppermine at 700MHz, swiftly following that introduction with further, faster processors. The move further confirms the suspicion that Intel and AMD will go head-to-head in a price war at the high end, as well as the low end. That will weaken Intel's margins but will also put more pressure on AMD in the gladiatorial battle. The Intel representative said: "It's definitely not a reaction to Athlon. We acknowledged in June we weren't able to reach frequency targets and couldn't hit them on .18 micron. We pushed out Coppermine by two months and got unexpectedly good yields on .25 micron." ®